I think a childhood television scare haunts all of us! My brother is STILL (at 49!) gets freaked by the Six Million Dollar Man episode when the Russian space probe lands in Wyoming and tries to destroy a nearby town. Probably doesn't hurt that the title of the episode is called 'Deathprobe'! I, on the other hand, remember less about the episode than laying on the floor, staring up at the TV and eating jelly beans from the candy jar my parents had put out for Christmas. But, then, I was four years older ... and so much cooler.
I was thinking about insulin pumps and glucose sensors, both of which have been integrated now and provide so much more freedom and control to Type 1 diabetics in particular. The technology has restored function, yes, but it also restores some of the human foundations of emotional health and confidence. (Two diabetics in the family, both using these devices.) To me, even those technologies that restore function also deeply influence and restore more than biological mechanisms.
Where I worry is in the invisible augmentations and manipulations. We don't see our smartphones, for example, as a body hack. But it's probably a real mind hack. Those are so pervasive and woven into our lives that their real influence is obscured. You don't see a fog if you're surrounded by it, in a sense.
Anyway now Iām going to hide in my bed. This sort of thing freaks me out too!
I think a childhood television scare haunts all of us! My brother is STILL (at 49!) gets freaked by the Six Million Dollar Man episode when the Russian space probe lands in Wyoming and tries to destroy a nearby town. Probably doesn't hurt that the title of the episode is called 'Deathprobe'! I, on the other hand, remember less about the episode than laying on the floor, staring up at the TV and eating jelly beans from the candy jar my parents had put out for Christmas. But, then, I was four years older ... and so much cooler.
I was thinking about insulin pumps and glucose sensors, both of which have been integrated now and provide so much more freedom and control to Type 1 diabetics in particular. The technology has restored function, yes, but it also restores some of the human foundations of emotional health and confidence. (Two diabetics in the family, both using these devices.) To me, even those technologies that restore function also deeply influence and restore more than biological mechanisms.
Where I worry is in the invisible augmentations and manipulations. We don't see our smartphones, for example, as a body hack. But it's probably a real mind hack. Those are so pervasive and woven into our lives that their real influence is obscured. You don't see a fog if you're surrounded by it, in a sense.